


Cadera

by yujacheong



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Archaeology, Catacombs of Cadera, Gen, History of Religion, Jedha, Kyber Crystals, Temple of the Kyber, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23141350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujacheong/pseuds/yujacheong
Summary: Ahsoka Tano visits Jedha on a scouting mission for Bail Organa.She didn’t see any immediate way of sneaking past the stormtroopers, and even if she did find a back door, she did not know what sort of reception she’d receive from the Guardians. They’d been friendly with the Jedi Order before the war…but now? It could be a risk.Her gaze wandered as she pondered. Local merchants had erected semi-permanent stalls in the shadow of the Temple, hawking street food, tourist trinkets, and “authentic” chunks of kyber crystal which Ahsoka knew were just jagged pieces of gypsum and quartz.Well, a street market was as good a place to start gathering intelligence as any.
Relationships: Bodhi Rook & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33
Collections: Worldbuilding Exchange 2020





	Cadera

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Northland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northland/gifts).



She hadn’t even landed on the surface yet, and already Ahsoka Tano could tell that the moon of Jedha was someplace very special in the history of the galaxy.

From above she saw fallen monuments half-hidden by the desert sands: colossal statues that had once stood taller than mountains. One of them depicted a bearded human, hooded and holding a lit lightsaber in a two-handed grip. Actually, it kind of reminded her of Master Kenobi.

Ahsoka allowed the grief and pain of loss to wash through her. She did not deny or suppress the feeling; she accepted and acknowledged it. In so doing, she was refusing to allow negative emotion to rule her or otherwise cloud her judgement.

She’d come to the Jedha moon on a scouting mission for Bail Organa. She would need to exercise her good judgement here.

But even fallen, forgotten Jedi idols paled in comparison to the spectacle of NiJedha, the Holy City. And within those ancient walls? A soaring spike shaped tower, taller than any other artificial construction onworld, the Temple of the Kyber.

Kyber. As in _kyber crystals_. A greater natural concentration of them, in fact, than almost anywhere else in the galaxy.

Ahsoka had seen what Palpatine’s Empire had wrought on Ilum with her own eyes. Once, she and every other Jedi Padawan, Knight, and Master she’d ever known had gone to Ilum seeking a kyber crystal for their lightsaber. Now that source of kyber was no more. It was a grievous blow to the side of the Light.

The Empire had not done the same to Jedha as it had done to Ilum, perhaps because there was an inconvenient and densely populated metropolis in the way. But that emphatically did not mean that the Empire was doing _nothing_ on Jedha, and they had good reason to suspect that _something_ nefarious was happening.

So Ahsoka was here to find out about the _what_. Anything – anything at all – she might learn had the potential to turn the tide.

*

The NiJedha spaceport bustled with tourists and pilgrims. For Ahsoka, it was simplicity itself to don a cloak and pull the hood high over her montrals. No one spared her a second glance as she disembarked from her shuttle, nor was she stopped at customs.

The city was cramped inside of its walls, thousands upon thousands of years of haphazard construction piled together. The streets were twisty and narrow, and given the throngs of the devout, navigable only on foot. Ahsoka permitted herself a leisurely pace, taking in the signs and symbols of half a hundred galactic religions and glancing surreptitiously upwards at the Star Destroyer in stationary orbit overhead – oh yeah, like the presence of the Imperial Navy wasn’t at aaaall suspicious.

She’d been planning to call on the Guardians of the Whills. As the current custodians of the Temple of the Kyber, she’d figured they’d be in the best position to discuss the Empire’s activities as they might relate to Jedha’s natural treasures. But by the time she’d gotten anywhere near the foot of the Temple, she knew it wasn’t to be. A battalion of stormtroopers barricaded the entrance, and pilgrims who’d come to pray inside the Temple were praying just beyond the Imperial barricade instead.

Ahsoka paused to assess. She didn’t see any immediate way of sneaking past the stormtroopers, and even if she did find a back door, she did not know what sort of reception she’d receive from the Guardians. They’d been friendly with the Jedi Order before the war…but now? It could be a risk.

Her gaze wandered as she pondered. Local merchants had erected semi-permanent stalls in the shadow of the Temple, hawking street food, tourist trinkets, and “authentic” chunks of kyber crystal which Ahsoka knew were just jagged pieces of gypsum and quartz.

Well, a street market was as good a place to start gathering intelligence as any. She headed over to one stall piled high with a combination of bright tourist brochures and dusty old books and browsed:

_Sited over the greatest known concentration of kyber crystal on Jedha, the Temple of the Kyber has been occupied by no less than six known Force-worshiping religious orders, each of whom have contributed to the architecture of the Temple and the culture of the surrounding city. Of these, the Jedi Order had the longest tenure, its members revered as gods […]_

‘Revered as gods’…?! Ahsoka grimaced. No wonder the Jedi hadn’t wanted to stay!

_[…] subsequent years of chaos until the Guardians of the Whills consolidated their authority and took possession and sole occupation of the Temple in […]_

Ahsoka felt a tug on the hem of her cloak. She turned; a human boy with big, dark eyes stared up at her hopefully. “Hey, um, ma’am – would you be interested in a guided tour? I can take you to places only us locals know about. None of those awful tourist traps. Only twelve credits!”

*

“Well, Ashla, what do you think? Worth every credit, right?”

Ahsoka turned to her tour guide, a local boy named Bodhi Rook, and smiled. “Worth every credit, definitely.”

The ‘it’ in question was known locally as the Catacombs of Cadera, so named because it had once been used as the final resting place for some forgotten civilization or another. Their skeletal remains were everywhere, and ghosts were said to haunt the vicinity. Most people avoided it for this reason…most people with the exception of children, that is, who thought the place was great fun to visit on a dare.

More recently, it had been used by the Church of the Contained Crescent, and Ahsoka noticed several overturned pews and torn latticework screens decorated with crescent motifs. But Ahsoka knew that this place had originally been a Jedi retreat, a remote place some distance from NiJedha where the Jedi onworld had decamped after deciding that being worshiped was not in best service to the Force. She could feel echoes of their presence and – more importantly – the ways in which the natural ebb and flow of the Force made this place…unobtrusive.

Hidden, practically in plain sight. It would be easy to overlook, even if one were actively searching.

She would mention it to Bail, she decided. If the Empire decided to ramp up its activities in NiJedha, the Catacombs of Cadera would make an excellent base of operations for any local resistance movement.

“Thank you, Bodhi,” Ahsoka said. “Your tour has been most educational.”


End file.
